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Naked Wines Australian head appointed chief executive of UK and US businesses

Published:  14 May, 2015

Naked Wines has appointed the chief executive of its Australian business, Luke Jecks to head up its UK and US businesses.

Jecks is the md of Naked Wines Australia, who established the Australian model in 2012 and has seen turnover in the Sydney-based arm rise to around Aus$20m last year. He has previously worked for JMMY, online wine retailer Cellarmaster Wines Pty Ltd (which was later sold to Australian supermarket Coles) as marketing executive, and Virgin Wines.

Naked Wines operates three international businesses, with offices in Norwich, Sydney and Napa Valley in the USA.

The move comes after the appointment of UK chief executive Rowan Gormley to head up Majestic Wines following the retailers acquisition of Naked Wines in a deal worth £70m last month. 

Gormley today confirmed that Jecks had been elevated to the role, telling Harpers.co.uk: "I have known Luke for ten years, he is Naked through and through, and is the perfect person to make sure Naked remains true to everything we stand for."

The new Majestic chief executive has already confirmed to Harpers that he has no intention of integrating the businesses, stating that there will be a "transfusion" of knowledge but that Naked Wines will continue to operate in "relatively the same way it does today". He also commented that rather than expand Majestic internationally, it makes more more sense to grow the side the business that is already in those places. "I think that the best way to expand from a low base in the US and Australia is the way we are doing it with the Naked model," he said.

Eamon FitzGerald, managing director of the Norwich-based business, told Harpers last week the move would give Naked Wines the chance to improve and grow its business, its wine list and its service to customers. 

For an in-depth analysis of the changes at Majestic, please read our interviews in this month's issue of Harpers with Rowan Gormley (subscriber only), and Eamon FitzGerald about what it means for Naked Wines .

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